Information storing apparatus and method thereof

Abstract

In storing main information such moving image data and metadata accompanying the main information, for a metadata item for which a plurality of description forms are present, a priority table in which the priority of each description form is set for each item is held in advance. Under limitation conditions related to metadata storage due to the data collection time of metadata or the calculation time of a value corresponding to a description form, a metadata item and description form are employed in descending order of priority held in the priority table (S 122 ) whereby metadata is formed and stored in correspondence with main information (S 126 ). With this arrangement, it is reliably possible to use supplementary information in a form that can be used at least in wide-ranging devices and control schemes, and it is also possible to use supplementary information that can make use of the characteristic feature of each device or control scheme.

1. An apparatus for storing main information and at least one supplementary information item that accompanies the main information and that conveys information about a respective parameter, comprising:
 a recording unit configured to record the supplementary information item, said recording unit being able to record the supplementary information item in any of at least two description forms, the at least two description forms conveying information about the same parameter; 
 a determination unit configured to determine, for each supplementary information item having a plurality of description forms, priority for each of the plurality of description forms in advance; and 
 a selection unit configured to select a description form to be used in recording in accordance with the priority from description forms usable in the apparatus, and 
 the recording unit recording the supplementary information item by the selected description form in correspondence with the main information. 
 
   
   
     2. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said selection unit selects a plurality of description forms to be used from the description forms usable in the apparatus in descending order of priority within a usable range in consideration of a limitation of the apparatus. 
   
   
     3. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said selection unit selects a plurality of description forms or expression forms to be used from the description forms usable in the apparatus in descending order of priority within a usable range in consideration of a limitation of the apparatus and simultaneously selects all description forms having priority higher than the lowest priority in the selected description forms. 
   
   
     4. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein when the description forms usable in the apparatus include description forms that cannot be simultaneously used because of a limitation of the apparatus, said selection unit selects one description form having high priority for the description forms, and for the remaining description forms, selects the plurality of usable description forms to be used in descending order of priority. 
   
   
     5. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein when the description forms usable in the apparatus include usable description forms whose number or combination is limited because of a limitation of the apparatus, said selection unit selects description forms having high priority as many as possible within the limit. 
   
   
     6. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said selection unit selects a description form to be used from the description forms usable in the apparatus in descending order of priority within a usable range in consideration of a limitation of the apparatus and changes a storage location or storage scheme of the supplementary information item on a storage medium in accordance with the priority. 
   
   
     7. The apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein, in changing the storage location or storage scheme of the supplementary information item on the storage medium, said selection unit stores a supplementary information item with a description form having high priority at a storage location or by a storage scheme, with which storage or retrieval is easy. 
   
   
     8. The apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein, in changing the storage location or storage scheme of the supplementary information item on the storage medium, said selection unit stores supplementary information at a storage location or by a storage scheme, with which storage or retrieval of the supplementary information item is easy, in an order of priority of the description form or expression form. 
   
   
     9. The apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein, in changing the storage location or storage scheme of the supplementary information item on the storage medium, said selection unit defines in advance a rule to assign a description form having specific priority to each of a plurality of storage locations or storage schemes on the storage medium and determines the storage location or storage scheme in accordance with the rule. 
   
   
     10. The apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein, in changing the storage location or storage scheme of the supplementary information item on the storage medium, said selection unit defines in advance a rule to assign a description form having specific priority to each of a plurality of storage locations or storage schemes on the storage medium for each supplementary information item to be recorded and determines the storage location or storage scheme in accordance with the rule. 
   
   
     11. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the apparatus is a moving image sensing apparatus, and 
 the main information is a moving image, and the supplementary information item contains at least one of information of an image sensing device, state information of an optical device, information related to a user's operation, and information related to a photographing environment at the time of photographing. 
 
   
   
     12. The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein when a plurality of sensors or devices related to the supplementary information item are present, the sensor or device whose information is to be selected and stored is determined in descending order of priority. 
   
   
     13. The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein when acquisition of information from a sensor or another device has a limitation, the sensor or another device whose information is to be selected and stored is determined in descending order of priority. 
   
   
     14. The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to a time in which the information is acquired from the sensor or another device. 
   
   
     15. The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to a temporary storage amount of the information acquired from the sensor or another device. 
   
   
     16. The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein when arithmetic operation of simultaneously converting information from a sensor or device into a plurality of unit systems or accuracies has a limitation, the unit system to be selected is determined in descending order of priority. 
   
   
     17. The apparatus according to  claim 16 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to a time in which the information from the sensor or device is simultaneously re-calculated to the plurality of unit systems or accuracies. 
   
   
     18. The apparatus according to  claim 16 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to a temporary storage amount of the re-calculated information. 
   
   
     19. The apparatus according to  claim 16 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to an arithmetic capability for simultaneously re-calculating the information from the sensor or another device to the plurality of unit systems or accuracies. 
   
   
     20. The apparatus according to  claim 16 , wherein the limitation is that the information from the sensor of another device contains unacquired information. 
   
   
     21. The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein when information from a sensor or another device can be simultaneously described by a plurality of forms, and a limitation related to the description is present, the sensor or another device whose information is to be selected and stored is determined in descending order of priority. 
   
   
     22. The apparatus according to  claim 21 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to a time usable for the description. 
   
   
     23. The apparatus according to  claim 21 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to an amount of information that can be described. 
   
   
     24. The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein the priority is defined in accordance with easiness of information acquisition or use frequency of information. 
   
   
     25. The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein when information from a sensor or another device can be simultaneously described by a plurality of forms, each body of information is described while dividing a storage region for the priority that is defined in advance for each form of information. 
   
   
     26. The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein when information from a sensor or another device can be simultaneously described by a plurality of forms, each body of information is selectively described in accordance with a storage region that is defined in advance for each form of information. 
   
   
     27. The apparatus according to  claim 26 , wherein the storage region of each body of information is defined in accordance with easiness of information acquisition or use frequency of information. 
   
   
     28. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the supplementary information item corresponds to one or another of plural types of device status, and the plurality of description forms correspond respectively to a plurality of descriptions describing one type of device status in a plurality of different ways. 
   
   
     29. A method of storing main information and at least one supplementary information item that accompanies the main information and that conveys information about a respective parameter, comprising:
 a recording step of recording the supplementary information item, said recording step being performable to record the supplementary information item in any of at least two description forms, the at least two description forms conveying information about the same parameter; 
 a determination step of determining, for each supplementary information item having a plurality of description forms, priority for each of the plurality of description forms in advance; and 
 a selection step of selecting a description form to be used in recording in accordance with the priority from description forms usable in a given apparatus, and 
 said recording step including recording the supplementary information item by the selected description form in correspondence with the main information. 
 
   
   
     30. The method according to  claim 29 , wherein, in the selection step, a plurality of description forms to be used are selected from the description forms usable in the apparatus in descending order of priority within a usable range in consideration of a limitation of the apparatus. 
   
   
     31. he method according to  claim 29 , wherein, in the selection step, a plurality of description forms or expression forms to be used are selected from the description forms usable in the apparatus in descending order of priority within a usable range in consideration of a limitation of the apparatus, and simultaneously, all description forms having priority higher than the lowest priority in the selected description forms are selected. 
   
   
     32. The method according to  claim 29 , wherein, in the selection step, when the description forms usable in the apparatus include description forms that cannot be simultaneously used because of a limitation of the apparatus, one description form having high priority is selected for the description forms, and for the remaining description forms, the plurality of usable description forms to be used are selected in descending order of priority. 
   
   
     33. The method according to  claim 29 , wherein, in the selection step, when the description forms usable in the apparatus include usable description forms whose number or combination is limited because of a limitation of the apparatus, description forms having high priority are selected as many as possible within the limit. 
   
   
     34. The method according to  claim 29 , wherein, in the selection step, a description form to be used is selected from the description forms usable in the apparatus in descending order of priority within a usable range in consideration of a limitation of the apparatus, and a storage location or storage scheme of the supplementary information item on a storage medium is changed in accordance with the priority. 
   
   
     35. The method according to  claim 34 , wherein, in the selection step, in changing the storage location or storage scheme of the supplementary information item on the storage medium, a supplementary information item with a description form having high priority is stored at a storage location or by a storage scheme, with which storage or retrieval is easy. 
   
   
     36. The method according to  claim 34 , wherein, in the selection step, in changing the storage location or storage scheme of the supplementary information item on the storage medium, supplementary information is stored at a storage location or by a storage scheme, with which storage or retrieval of the supplementary information item is easy, in an order of priority of the description form or expression form. 
   
   
     37. The method according to  claim 34 , wherein, in the selection step, in changing the storage location or storage scheme of the supplementary information item on the storage medium, a rule to assign a description form having specific priority to each of a plurality of storage locations or storage schemes on the storage medium is defined in advance, and the storage location or storage scheme is determined in accordance with the rule. 
   
   
     38. The method according to  claim 34 , wherein, in the selection step, in changing the storage location or storage scheme of the supplementary information item on the storage medium, a rule to assign a description form having specific priority to each of a plurality of storage locations or storage schemes on the storage medium for each supplementary information item to be recorded is defined in advance, and the storage location or storage scheme is determined in accordance with the rule. 
   
   
     39. The method according to  claim 29 , wherein
 the apparatus is a moving image sensing apparatus, and 
 the main information is a moving image, and the supplementary information item contains at least one of information of an image sensing device, state information of an optical device, information related to a user's operation, and information related to a photographing environment at the time of photographing. 
 
   
   
     40. The method according to  claim 39 , wherein when a plurality of sensors or devices related to the supplementary information item are present, the sensor or device whose information is to be selected and stored is determined in descending order of priority. 
   
   
     41. The method according to  claim 39 , wherein when acquisition of information from a sensor or another device has a limitation, the sensor or another device whose information is to be selected and stored is determined in descending order of priority. 
   
   
     42. The method according to  claim 41 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to a time in which the information is acquired from the sensor or another device. 
   
   
     43. The method according to  claim 41 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to a temporary storage amount of the information acquired from the sensor or another device. 
   
   
     44. The method according to  claim 39 , wherein when arithmetic operation of simultaneously converting information from a sensor or device into a plurality of unit systems or accuracies has a limitation, the unit system to be selected is determined in descending order of priority. 
   
   
     45. The method according to  claim 44 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to a time in which the information from the sensor or device is simultaneously re-calculated to the plurality of unit systems or accuracies. 
   
   
     46. The method according to  claim 44 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to a temporary storage amount of the re-calculated information. 
   
   
     47. The method according to  claim 44 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to an arithmetic capability for simultaneously re-calculating the information from the sensor or another device to the plurality of unit systems or accuracies. 
   
   
     48. The method according to  claim 44 , wherein the limitation is that the information from the sensor of another device contains unacquired information. 
   
   
     49. The method according to  claim 39 , wherein when information from a sensor or another device can be simultaneously described by a plurality of forms, and a limitation related to the description is present, the sensor or another device whose information is to be selected and stored is determined in descending order of priority. 
   
   
     50. The method according to  claim 49 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to a time usable for the description. 
   
   
     51. The method according to  claim 49 , wherein the limitation is a limitation related to an amount of information that can be described. 
   
   
     52. The method according to  claim 39 , wherein the priority is defined in accordance with easiness of information acquisition or use frequency of information. 
   
   
     53. The method according to  claim 39 , wherein when information from a sensor or another device can be simultaneously described by a plurality of forms, each body of information is described while dividing a storage region for the priority that is defined in advance for each form of information. 
   
   
     54. The method according to  claim 39 , wherein when information from a sensor or another device can be simultaneously described by a plurality of forms, each body of information is selectively described in accordance with a storage region that is defined in advance for each form of information. 
   
   
     55. The method according to  claim 54 , wherein the storage region of each body of information is defined in accordance with easiness of information acquisition or use frequency of information. 
   
   
     56. A computer-readable medium which stores a control program for causing a computer to execute the information storing method of  claim 29 . 
   
   
     57. The method according to  claim 29 , wherein the supplementary information item corresponds to one or another of plural types of device status, and the plurality of description forms correspond respectively to a plurality of descriptions describing one type of device status in a plurality of different ways.